Automated friction clutches with wear adjustment devices and their control are known. Stroke-sensitive wear adjustments find application in the so-called closed friction clutches that are open in a resting position and closed under pressure, for instance, by a lever actuator, up to an extreme position at which maximally transmittable torque is achieved through the friction clutch. At the same time, the lever must be pressurized with an increasing actuator force to obtain increasing transmittable torque magnitudes so that the friction lining of the clutch disc are pressed with an increasing force. Owing to wear of the friction clutch lining or of the clutch disc pressurized by the pressure plates of the friction clutch, the clutch stroke increases, thus the travel between a resting position and an extreme position will be increased. The wear adjustment device of such friction clutches is designed so that self-adjustment occurs at a discrete distance from the compensation amount of the decreasing axial thickness of the friction lining, when the actuator pressurizes the lever, for instance a diaphragm spring or lever spring, with a force that locks the friction clutch and thus requires an actuator force that corresponds to the transmitted maximum clutch torque. Actuator forces are regulated in the process, based on the torque of the internal combustion engine required by the driver due to his driving style. If, for instance, only small engine torque is required, the actuator force, particularly due to energetic and wear reasons, will be set such that the torque at disposal from the internal combustion engine is transmitted without impermissible slip.
In case a vehicle is operated for a very long duration, for instance, with such an automated friction clutch, beyond a period of necessary self-adjustment, by the wear adjustment device, whilst shunning a requirement for maximum transmittable clutch torque then the friction lining can wear out without the friction clutch performing self-adjustment at the extreme position with maximum transmittable clutch torque. The consequence is that, owing to the increase of clutch stroke due to the uncompensated friction lining wear, the extreme position—also defined by an actuator limit stop—no longer transmits the maximum transmittable clutch torque.